Steven Merrifield Wins 2021 NFFC Cutline & $100,000

[Greg Ambrosius]

Steven Merrifield of Morgantown, West Virginia last played in the NFFC in 2018, but he returned in 2021 with two NFFC Cutline Championship teams. That was all he was going to play this year, but he turned one of those teams into the NFFC Cutline Championship winner as he took home the $100,000 grand prize. I think he might be playing more with the NFFC in 2022 now, don't you think?

Steven won his league title and $350 and was ranked 97th out of 460 teams entering the Championship Round. His team moved up to 47th after the first "cut" after Week 13 and then edged his way up to 30th after Week 14. He continued to survive the "cut" in Week 15 and was 39th overall with a shot at the top prize. His Dalvin and Davantes Bengals team that vaulted into the top spot after Week 16 as it scored 249.65 points that week. That allowed him to be at the "final table" of 12 teams in Week 17 and his team didn't disappoint, scoring 190.00 points to win the title and the $100,000 grand prize. Not bad for $350 in entry fees.

Steven finished 7.82 points ahead of Anthony Shaw for the title with Joshua Dombrowski, Tom Zarogiannos and Chad Schroeder rounding out the Top 5. All 12 owners earned prize money in Week 17.

Steven drafted this team on July 3rd and drafted his second team on July 5th. He didn't take another team after that and rode this one all the way to the Championship Round and the title. Well done Steven.

Here's the final standings from Week 17:

NFFC Cutline Championship Week 17 Final Standings:
1 Steven Merrifield Dalvin and Davantes Bengals NFFC Cutline Championship #2377 557.24
2 ANTHONY SHAW Cali TreeCrushers 2 NFFC Cutline Championship #4844 549.42
3 JOSHUA DOMBROWSKI KC Polack Cutline I NFFC Cutline Championship #5455 529.35
4 Tom Zarogiannos Adams Chubb Combo NFFC Cutline Championship #3883 524.97
5 Chad Schroeder Cocktails & Dreams NFFC Cutline Championship #4513 517.78
6 Jack Haan Dutch Murder Hornets NFFC Cutline Championship #4727 517.73
7 David Dorman Showtime 10 NFFC Cutline Championship #5025 516.48
8 Matthew Miersch The Fetch NFFC Cutline Championship #2355 515.58
9 John Pierce JPLPA0720 NFFC Cutline Championship #2975 491.38
10 John Pierce JPC0707 NFFC Cutline Championship #2497 489.7
11 Jared Daniels Mega Powers NFFC Cutline Championship #5651 484.88
12 Chester Mui Mui NFFC Cutline Championship #6209 471.8

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here was the payout for the NFFC Cutline Championship's Championship Round and Consolation Round for 2021:

2021 NFFC Cutline Championship
Overall Prizes
1 $100,000
2 $25,000
3 $17,500
4 $15,000
5 $12,000
6 $10,000
7 $6,000
8 $5,000
9 $4,000
10 $3,000
11 $2,500
12 $2,000

Consolation Prizes
1 $3,000
2 $2,000
3 $1,500
4 $1,200
5 $1,000
6 $900
7 $800
8 $750
9 $700
10 $650
11 $600
12 $500

League Prizes
1 $350
2 $150

[Greg Ambrosius]

Steven drafted from the 2nd spot in this July 3rd 11 pm ET Cutline Championship league. Here were his draft results:

Cook, Dalvin 1 2 RB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Adams, Davante 2 19 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Mixon, Joe 3 22 RB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Kittle, George 4 39 TE Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Cooper, Amari 5 42 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Kupp, Cooper 6 59 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Higgins, Tee 7 62 FLEX Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Edmonds, Chase 8 79 RB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Samuel, Deebo 9 82 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Burrow, Joe 10 99 QB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Williams, Mike 11 102 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Mooney, Darnell 12 119 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Parker, DeVante 13 122 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Lance, Trey 14 139 QB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Bateman, Rashod 15 142 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Tagovailoa, Tua 16 159 QB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Steelers, Pittsburgh 17 162 TDSP Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Trautman, Adam 18 179 TE Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Smith, Tre'Quan 19 182 WR Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Winston, Jameis 20 199 QB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Buccaneers, Tampa Bay 21 202 TK Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Bears, Chicago 22 219 TDSP Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Evans, Darrynton 23 222 RB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Saints, New Orleans 24 239 TK Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
McKinnon, Jerick 25 242 RB Dalvin and Davantes Bengals
Knox, Dawson 26 259 TE Dalvin and Davantes Bengals

[Greg Ambrosius]

The NFFC Cutline Championship has three FAAB periods. Here were Steven's free agent pickups:

Week 2 Ty'Son Williams 669
Week 9 Jimmy Garoppolo 202
Week 9 Devonta Freeman 115
Week 9 San Francisco 49ers TDSP 11

[Greg Ambrosius]

Steven Merrifield now joins our elite list of past champions as we have nine different Cutline champions in nine seasons.

Here's the great list of champions:

NFFC CUTLINE CHAMPIONSHIP OVERALL CHAMPIONS:

2013 - Ted Neff, VentureBros, 549.18
2014 - Chris Baker, Baker, 500.26
2015 - Thomas Greenwald, ONE GOAL 6, 524.93
2016 - Jared Daniels, 524.24
2017 - Nicholas Izzo, 511.31
2018 - Matthew Bayley, 608.65
2019 - Ronald Chan, 560.63
2020 - George Melbrod, 607.79
2021 - Steven Merrifield, 557.24

[Greg Ambrosius]

We paid the Top 12 in the Consolation Round as well after Week 17. Here were those final standings:

2021 NFFC Cutline Championship Consolation Round Final Standings:
1 Vincent Staffilino vcstaff 3 NFFC Cutline Championship #3807 550.55
2 Kyle Brumm Team Dunroe NFFC Cutline Championship #4963 549.73
3 Bob Casale Cutline of Duty NFFC Cutline Championship #2834 548.15
4 John Wong No Name NFFC Cutline Championship #5248 547.77
5 Calvin Suer Julia-4 NFFC Cutline Championship #1561 547.36
6 Mike Resma Resma NFFC Cutline Championship #4681 546.25
7 Grant Barrick Barrick Cut 1 NFFC Cutline Championship #3753 542.64
8 Chester Mui Mui NFFC Cutline Championship #5387 539.78
9 James W.Giles pantera 6 NFFC Cutline Championship #6166 537.75
10 Jason Schoen JS24 NFFC Cutline Championship #4009 535.14
11 Tejas Bodiwala Panthers NFFC Cutline Championship #2371 534.42
12 Kevin Price X Price NFFC Cutline Championship #5687 531.06
13 Larry Goldstein ducksncoins4 NFFC Cutline Championship #5298 531.02
14 Rob Fogleman Murder Hornets NFFC Cutline Championship #6056 529.44
15 Mike Resma Resma NFFC Cutline Championship #4105 528.96